To The Good Life and Back Again
by SinxhetXXI
Summary: When Stephen moves to Omaha, Nebraska he wants nothing to do with it. Until his grandfather's wisdom inspires him to enjoy his new life. Playing hooky he travels to the Henry Doorly Zoo. Kovu is trapped with his own new life.Only Stephen can help him.
1. Chapter 1: Moving On

**To The Good Life and Back Again**

By SinxhetXXI

(A.K.A ~Josh)

Author's note: Hi, everyone! This is my first fanfic; I hope you like it! I wouldn't be writing this if it weren't for the inspiration from the "Man Trilogy" by SimbaFan. If you have any questions feel free to email me at rat_ . Please R&R, all flames will be extinguished.

P.S. I DO NOT own The Lion King, but I sure do wish I did. :P _

Chapter 1: Moving On.

"But Mom I don't want to move!" I screamed at my mother as she told me the horrifying news.

"Stephen, this isn't about you it's about the family, and if you're worried about your friends it is okay you'll make more." She tried to reassure, but I wasn't buying it.

"It is not about that! It's about where we are moving _to_!" I emphasized.

She put her hands on her hips; the way she always does when she is annoyed. "Would you explain to me the problem with moving to your great-grandpa's hometown?"

I rolled my eyes in frustration " It's Nebraska, Mom," I continued "Think about it; everyone's socially and technologically backwards, all they care about, are their crops, and tractors, and the stupid Cornhuskers, who aren't even a good team to start out with… Do they even have electricity in Omaha?"

"STEPHEN ERIC MATTHEWS! I will not stand for your intolerance. You know your great-grandpa loved his home state, and we should be thankful that he left us that beautiful home, God rest his soul." She paused "Now go upstairs and start packing, we have a long trip ahead of us." I sighed and walked up the stairs. Little did I know that those few steps would start me on an amazing journey that I would never forget.

As I walked solemnly up the stairs I thought about great-grandpa Joseph. He always told me. _Everything in the universe is united by one common principle: existence. _ I was never exactly sure what he meant by that, but his memory made that gloomy afternoon a little brighter.

After visiting my closest friend and saying goodbye I trudged back to my house to finish packing. After I got all of my stuff packed I went into my closet to see if I had left anything there; I had, my old gift from my grandpa's trip to Africa. It is a mask depicting a lion's head it's supposed to represent courage. I thought it was neat, but I brought it out for some reason it always slightly frightened me. I packed it in with the rest of my closet belongings. I absolutely could not leave this behind; not the one thing that truly connected me to my grandpa.

"Last call for flight 196 to Omaha, Nebraska now boarding," the terminal worker called as we began our descent into the plane. My mom hurried all of us: me, my little sister Jean, and my father into our seats. I turn my iPod on before my dad can start boring me with his stories of growing up in the "great" state of Nebraska. The sweet lullabies of my teenage angst drift me off to sleep within an hour.

As I opened my eyes what I saw was not what I expected. I was in grassland. Long wavy stands of gold stood upon the earth, but something wasn't right. My vision was slightly blurred, my legs were shaky… My legs; I was on four legs strong, power legs at the end were great paws. my hair was a beautiful mane jet black in color, underneath was a magnificent oak brown coat. In the joy of being in this body I began to run. I came upon a small puddle and was amazed at what I saw. I peered into the water; what stared back was a lion with stunning green eyes, and a small scar going across one on the left. As I continued trying to run I noticed that there was something behind me. I turned and standing within twenty feet of me were two men, each in safari canvas clothing, pointing long-barreled rifles at me. One of them began speaking "Easy big fella, it's alright, you're just going to take a nice little snooze." The other man continued his sentence "When you wake up you'll be all healed." At this I examined my surroundings; I had a very large gash in my right thigh. Guessing the adrenaline pumping through my system was what made me ignore it. I turned back to the two men before me. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a growl, low and powerful. As this escaped my lips I knew I had made a mistake. Two darts were fired at me, and I was out like a light.

A/N: So, what do you think? Again please R&R. It will be greatly appreciated, thanks. Until the next chapter ~ SinxhetXXI~


	2. Chapter 2: Dreaming a Reality

Chapter 2: Dreaming a Reality

With a start I jolted up from my 10,000 ft. nap. I tried to whisper to myself "Weirdest effin' dream ever." My mom actually heard what I said so I got a quick lecture on language and "Midwestern Courtesy." I sighed and waited for our instructions from the pilot to de-board the plane. While we were trying to find our bags my dad was telling me about some things in Omaha I might like. He was telling me about the Orpheum Theatre, Rosenblatt Stadium, blahdy, blahdy, blah. The one thing that _did _catch my attention was when he started talking about The Henry Doorly Zoo, which has the world's largest indoor rainforest and the world's largest indoor desert. These were called the Lied Jungle and the Desert Dome respectfully. That did sound cool. So the first thing that I did after I got all of our stuff unpacked and in the house was getting on my computer and go to the website for more info.

After filling up my computer's history with bits and pieces of info on the Henry Doorly Zoo I decided to hit the hay. School started the next day "Great," I thought, "I have to suffer through eight hours of nothing but the talk of John Deere tractors and the next Cornhusker game." I sigh before closing my eyes.

_ {Kovu}_

When I awoke to that cold dark place, I slowly started to remember the events that had happened for, as far as I knew, the last day or so. I remember Simba getting a report from Zazu that humans had been sighted in the area. I, never before hearing these creatures asked Simba what they were. He told me only stories that his father, Mufasa, had told him. He described them as furless monkeys who walk on two legs wore the skins of animals to keep warm. He told me that they are very curious creatures, and that they are also very dangerous. He told me that they had these sticks that spewed thunder and fire. These weapons called "guns" had killed many of the herds in the Pridelands. He vowed to let that never happen again. I told him that the Pridelands needed their king, and that I would survey the humans in his place. Kiara begged me not to go. The foolish prideful one I was told her to not worry; that nothing would happen to me. As I said before I was too proud, too stupid to not go.

These humans were just inside of the Pridelands. Simba told me, that if I could, to not appear aggressive in any way towards them for humans are easily scared, and too eager to use their weapons. As I was nearing the humans' den I was blind-sighted by Banzai the hyena who tore a massive chunk of flesh from my right thigh. I could tell that he got a really good piece from it, as it was bleeding terribly, and I could barely stand on it. He grinned; my blood on his teeth. Snarling he said "You think you lions are gonna take those furless monkeys all for yourselves," He continued "Whatever happened to sharing?" He being the naive beast he was tried to go at me straightforward; thinking that my injury would slow me down. Oh, was he ever wrong. I caught him in throat as he tried to jump at me. As I dropped his limp body to the ground a strange sensation came over me. As if something were entering my mind. The pain in my leg became very apparent as my vision became hazy. All in all I started to lose control of my being. I couldn't move, but despite my paralysis I moved anyway. This thing whatever it was was controlling my every move. I keep trying to tell it "No, stop! What are you doing? You're going to end up killing me!" It didn't listen. It just kept on making me run. Until we heard a noise, it turned my body towards the source and standing in front of me were two humans, both aimed their sticks at me. The last thing I remember was two sharp pains, then waking up in this cold small place.

I tried to take in my surroundings, but all I could see was gray, like rocks, but this thing I was in was much harder than any rock I had ever seen. I smelled blood, my own. I put a paw to the wound to check it, only to see that it had been covered with something. My blood still smelled fresh so my fight with Banzai shouldn't have happened too long ago. Normally it would take almost a day to have the pain subside from this kind of wound, but the humans must've done something to it to make the pain go away. Whatever smelly thing they put on my leg was working, and I was thankful.

I took in a deeper breath to get a better smell of the world around me. All I could smell was air, and the strange scent of humans, that tingled violently in my muzzle. This meant that there were many of them, much more than the two before. As I sat pondering my fate a whirring sound came to my ears. Something was lowering self out of the strange cave I was in, and I could see light spilling from its source. As I looked around I saw more animals, incased the hard-rock that I was. I tried to speak the ones near me, but it seems they were all unconscious. I frowned at this fact. At that moment I could smell the earth! It wasn't quite the same smell as back home, but it was earth all the same. Our mini-caves bounced as we actually _hit_ the earth itself. This made me wonder if we weren't in some sort of rock-like-bird that these humans made, Simba did tell me that humans, although not smart naturally were gifted with tool usage. I just took a guess and thought that this thing was one of their tools.

As the "bird" stopped running on the ground I heard a loud voice that came out of thin air. It sounded very foreign, like I had never heard before. I was only able to make out a few words. I thought about them for the rest of my time in there "…Welcome…home…Omaha…" Whatever that meant I didn't like it.

_A/N: w00t! Actually got into the Lion King in this chapter! Thanks for reading don't forget to review! Again any questions just email me rat_ Thanks! ~SinxhetXXI~


	3. Chapter 3: Zoo  Cool, School  Not

Chapter 3: Zoo = Cool, School= Not

_A/N: w00t, third chapter! Didn't really know how to start or end this chapter… So, tell me how I did! ^_^ By the way, just to let you guys know, I am from Nebraska so I get to make fun of my own state. :P On with the story!

"Damn it," I cursed as I splashed water on my face. "What is it with me and dreaming about lions lately?" I dry my face and sit down to try to make sense of it all. Vivid flashes of memory came to mind; this time I wasn't the lion himself. It was like I was just outside of his cage, watching him. He looked scared out of his mind, all I could do was pity him. The weirdest thing about this dream was right at the end I heard a voice like it was coming from a P.A. system that said "Welcome back home the current time is 4:35 in beautiful Omaha, Nebraska." Now, in the back of my mind I thought that was very, very strange. But, at the same time I figured it was just an interpretation of my own feelings about this place.

_{Kovu}_

The humans carted us out on what I felt like a giant caterpillar. I noticed that the animal next to me was stirring out of her induced slumber. She smelt almost like we were in the same family, but she did not have the scent of a lioness. While I was contemplating this she spoke.

"Hello there, Young one," She continued "My name is Yuddhaya, and by the smell of your fear I'm guessing that _they_ just picked you up from the wild?" I really didn't like the way she said "they," like it was a bad taste in her mouth. I guessed that she was speaking of the humans. Despite this I decided to give her a straight forward answer, I'd much rather her be my first friend than my first enemy.

"Yes," I answered, puffing my chest out a bit, "I'm actually prince of my pride." Through the little holes in her "cage", I heard the humans call it; I noticed that she gave me a small bow. I was grateful for the respect. I asked what she knew about where we were going. She smirked like a know-it-all. She told me to get as close as I could to her, as to not frighten the others that were apparently in front of her.

"They're taking us to a bigger one of these." She said as she tapped on the side of her cage. I looked at her like she was crazy. I didn't understand so I asked what she meant. She replied, "The humans will put you in a larger cage. Much bigger than this one to give you the illusion of freedom, but you will still be enslaved to their entertainment."

I stared, bewildered really. "Entertainment, what do you mean… Are they that starved for joy that they can't entertain themselves?" She nodded. She went on to give me compliments on figuring them out so quickly. I was confused on what she had against humans. From what I could tell she looked and sounded healthy, and she was eighteen-years-old! She was way beyond the age of any lion let alone any tiger I knew; which explains why she was calling me "Cub" even though I'm almost four-years-old.

During our conversation I took in my surroundings a little more. I saw many large structures that looked like they reached the heavens themselves. They seemed to be made of the same material that my cage was made out of. I spoke to Yuddhaya about this; she told me that they were called "buildings." The humans made them to live in. She told me that she's never seen the inside of one, but she's knows that it is a million times better than the place that they were sending us. Curious, I implored her to explain. She told me that my surroundings would look mildly the same as back home because the humans wanted me docile and compliant. She said that they would also fit my cage with several tree limbs and boulders for the same reason.

Finally fed up with her stories I decided to enter another question "Why with all the fuss of making it look like my home, if I'm not even able to leave my cage?" Her toothed smile made me uneasy, it reminded me too much of Mother. "It's because they fear you."

_{Stephen}_

"Mr. Matthews, I know it must've been a long flight from California, but it's been a week, could you please try to stay awake in my English class," Mr. Schneider's voice jolted me from my pleasant slumber. "And please don't doodle in your notebook during my lecture." I looked down and saw the face of the lion I had seen so many times in my dreams. This was starting to get weird I could never draw well before, and now this drawing was so realistic it was scary. He looked so serious, but he eyes expressed fear. Underneath the drawing was a single scribbled word, one which I assumed was his name: Kovu.

For the next two hours I couldn't get that drawing out of my mind! It was worse than the dreams had been lately. Not to mention the other things I've had on my mind lately. Like my stupid algebra class, or that jack-ass Roger; always pushing me around and mocking me talking to me like a surfer. He'll get his one day. I spent my time in study hall researching lions. Afterword I looked up the name "Kovu" to see if I could find any information. What I found was very intriguing. Kovu is the Swahili word for "scar." I thought this was a most fitting name for this lion because of the vertical scar that ran down his left eye.

"'Sup Braw?" A voice called from behind me. I gave a sigh "Hello Roger," trying to be nice I asked "What are you up to?"

He sent me a bored "Not much," his eyes suddenly widened "What are you lookin' at?"

"It's kind of private." I slide in front of him before he could ogle over my computer monitor, to which he plainly pushed me aside.

"Lions huh," he scoffed "A little fixated aren't ya, Matthews?" He continued "First that drawing in class and now you're filling up the school's computer with this junk."

"That's not junk, Roger it is vital information." I tried to assure him.

"No," he answered me" The only info you need on lion's is that they are giant pussy-cats hell-bent on killing anything that moves within ten feet of them. Haven't you seen those big cats at the zoo? Those beasties would kill you soon as look at you, my dad, the head zookeeper says so." He picked up my English notebook "In fact how about I help you out and make this picture more realistic, a little red-sharpie-blood-on-the-lip should do it." He reached into his pocket as I reached for my notebook.

"You're not ruining that picture!" I yelled "Give it back!" He held it above his head, standing at 6'3", he was at least half-a-foot taller than me. "What do you plan on doing about it, Lion-boy," he smirked "Roar at me?" I charged at him my fist targeting his sternum.

"Mr. Matthews!" A voice called before I took my swing "Stop that right now!" It was the Vice Principal, Mrs. Alexson. "I saw the whole ordeal, gentlemen; Stephen you should know better than to resort to violence, that has never gotten anybody anywhere." I tried to defend myself "But…" I was cut off before I could share my side of the story. Roger the actor was crying crocodile tears, trying and succeeding in sucking up to our VP. "Roger, I want you to start at the beginning, tell me all that happened." He tried to calm him as he sobbed "W-well…I walked over to…him…and…and… he started making fun of me." He continued his brown-nosing "He…he was calling me a fat country boy, and he was calling me a pig." I interjected rather strongly "That's a goddamn lie!"

Mrs. Alexson gasped "Stephen Matthews, that language is not tolerated at this school, now apologize to both of us!" I was furious "Hell No, I have done nothing wrong. "I continued my rant. "I've only been here a week yet everyday Roger here decides he needs to make West Cost jokes at me. Calling me "Bro" and telling me to "Hang Loose, and the one time I try to stand up for myself, you stop it and take his side because he knows how to cry to get his way." I stood up and stormed out of the room. "Fuck this place!" I yelled pushing open the doors that led to the parking lot Roger's words still lingering in my ears "Haven't you seen the lions at the zoo?"

_{Kovu}_

The humans shot us with the sleep-stingers again before they took us out of our temporary cages. I woke up a little while before Yuddhaya had so I had time to take in my surroundings. The sights, sounds, and smells were amazing! I saw many other animals, like myself, sound asleep in their own personal home away from home. I watched as the sun appeared over the horizon, and exploded into the sky with brilliant light. Not a cloud in the sky, albeit my current condition it was a perfect spring day. The smells of the different animals were almost of the same scent as Yuddhaya, the familiar scent of family without having the scent of a lion. I noticed directly in front of my keep, maybe five pounces away, was a young cheetah. He looked like he was approximately my age, and with luck he might even have origins close to the Pridelands. I was about to call for his attention when I heard a strange noise from a few strides behind me.

The strange sound must have been the sound of my back cage door opening. What came from the door confused me even further; it was one of the humans I studied him as he walked cautiously towards a bowl near my personal watering hole. In his hands he held a rather large piece of meat; my mouth started watering at the smell of the raw substance. It was then that it dawned on me; I hadn't eaten since before my capturing. I began my advance toward the food as the human inched closer to my bowl, all the while his eyes never leaving my presence. The stench of fear that emitted from his self was astounding; which kept me from approaching him any further. Though I still did not understand why they feared me so much. Yuddhaya explained to me that humans fear what they don't understand. From this logic I figured they've never seen a lion with such a dark pelt as mine so they were probably paranoid beyond all reason of my behavior. Still I had no reason real reason to fear them so I walked up to my meat as the man laid it down. I looked up at him; trying to think of a way to thank him for feeding me when he spoke. Since it was only him it was a little easier to understand his strange human dialect. "Hey, Chocolate, I brought you your breakfast." My face went from grateful to confused again. Did he just call me "Chocolate?" I started to try to reason with him; telling him my name was Kovu, and asking why he was calling me that strange name. This is an example of the many times I forgot that humans speak their own language apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. So the only thing he heard was growls of a hungry lion. He practically sprinted out of my cage like a surprised gazelle. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "If only they understood…" I thought as I eat my meal.

_ {Stephen}_

As I walked the couple miles of distance between the zoo and my school I cooled down a lot, but I still wanted to see the actual zoo itself. Everything that I saw online was very intriguing, not to mention everything my dad told me about it. I walked up to the gate to pay my way in. "One student ticket, please." I tried to smile as she stared steadily at me.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" She asked accusingly.

"Shouldn't you mind your own business?" I bit back, a mild amount of annoyance in my voice. She stood defeated unable to come up with a good comeback.

"Fine," She sighed giving me my ticket "Don't forget to see the new lion exhibit at the Cat Complex."

I looked at her inquisitively "New lion exhibit, when was that introduced?"

She actually smiled this time "It's very new, just got him in the cage today. He's the first dark-coated lion we've ever seen. She added a hint of humor "The owner thought he looked kind of sweet so he got the name Chocolate; what a name for a lion, huh?"

I agreed with a smirk "Yeah," I looked at her with new-found eyes; putting out a hand, "I'm Stephen."

She reached out her hand "Missy." She said plainly "Have fun!" She yelled as I walked towards the entrance to the rest of the zoo. Hoping I could find the Cat Complex soon.

_{Kovu}_

Noise. That's the best way to describe it, just plain old noise. I can plainly see how these creatures were once monkeys, the way they yell at me telling me what to do. There's so many of them; their voices almost unbearable. Growling at them seemed to work a little. It got them to back off of my cage, and quiet down, but only for a few seconds. Even then the biggest con about that was through the roaring I also managed to scare a whole pride of human-cubs, who then proceeded to cry their eyes out, enough to fill a riverbed. Thankfully their queen was able to quiet them all down, they left me soon after. Looking at the sun was at a difficult angle, but I was still able to discern that it was at its' highest in the sky. One of the humans with food came and shooed off the other humans who were left gawking at me. I figured it was lunchtime as she went around giving the other cats their meat. I smiled; at least they understood the concept of privacy.

As I was about to take a bite into my lunch Yuddhaya called me over to wall of bars that separated us. "How's your first day going so far, Cub," she asked with a sarcastic smirk that I was all too familiar with using, "Having fun yet?" I gave her an even stare.

"The noise is going to drive me insane," I complained while taking a large bite out of my food. "How do you handle dealing with them day in and day out?" I asked the seasoned veteran. She did that know-it-all smile again then stated I've learned that humans are very simple creatures, who enjoy cheap thrills the most over anything else. So I deny them that pleasure by not giving in to anything they say or do to me. Simply giving them the cold shoulder is enough to bore anyone away." Her lecture continued "You've noticed the cheetahs on the other side, correct." I gave her a simple nod. "Next time we have a group in our domain watch how the cheetahs react, and do the exact opposite." I nodded to her wisdom and began surveying the two cheetahs' behavior.

I knew of the cheetahs back home to be introverted and shy, but very individual. From what I could see there were three cheetahs, two males and a female, all in separate cages, but close enough to be called cellmates. For most of the time they all just lazed about soaking up as much sun as they could. It wasn't very interesting, but that all changed when the familiar sound of pounding footsteps on stone approached. All at once the cheetahs' ears perked up, they all got up, looked around, and started stretching; like they were getting ready to sprint or something. The sun was just past its high point. Yuddhaya said that they let the humans back in when we were all finished napping off our meals. As what happened before the first humans to reach our cages, or "Cat Complex" as the others put it, was the cubs, followed soon after. I looked at Yuddhaya for an answer of what to do. She lazily pointed a single claw to the cheetahs, and made a motion with her eyes for me to watch them intently so I did.

It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. Instead of being smart and first observing and smelling the air around the man-cubs before approaching them, the group of cheetahs merely bounded to the front of their cages only a few strides away from them. The younger male and female cheetahs began to call out in high playful voices to each other, rubbing against the bars affectionately. I peered out incredulously, these animals, who I always thought were the reclusive, loner type, were intentionally being out-going, acting like cubs themselves, to please the man-cubs. The humans in turn laughed at the cats' antics. I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. This proud species was just mocking itself, for the pleasure of humans. The trio actually looked like they enjoyed the humans company. I saw now what Yuddhaya was talking about. There was no way I was going to act as foolish as that embarrassing trio. As I made up mind on this, they came to me in swarms, surrounding the two outward facing sides of my den. They began yelling at me in their strange language, chanting "Chocolate!" over and over again. They flashed bright lights at me at all points. It was blinding my head was spinning I backed myself as far as I could away from them. I lay down and closed my eyes. This made the lights go away, but the noise was still there. They kept screaming; from what I could tell they wanted me to be the same as the cheetahs all up-close and personal.

The disturbance grew and grew as did the anger within me, they stood too close I could hear them tapping on the bars. It became too great for me to handle; my mother's murderous face and blood red eyes flashed in my own as I charged the front of my keep aiming not necessarily at anything. But finding my point of promise centered on a group of the same humans the cheetahs were just entertaining. I dug my feet into the rough soil and gave a roar that shattered through the apparent language barrier that stood between us. All was silence, not a word was spoken. Horrified gasps was that was heard, then the hurried shuffling of scared animals going to the next exhibit. I looked out at the cheetahs, their jaws agape in disgust. One of the tigers' opposite of Yuddhaya shook his massive head. I looked over to Yuddhaya, a gleam of hope in my eyes of her approval. She looked as shocked as the rest, but her face fell not into a frown, but into the biggest toothed grin I had ever seen. I heard something to my left, turning my attention I saw a single human standing very, very close to my cage; barely tapping on the bar, only to get my attention not to annoy me. I was taught that where reverence was given it was to be given back. My rage faded into curiosity as I walked patiently over to him, from what I knew, and from what Yuddhaya told me about humans is that usually the males with long fur on their heads tend to be in their adolescent stage, much as I was currently. As I walked patiently to the young man he looked at me, then back at something he held in his hands, then back at me. He did this several times; by the time he was done I had sat down in front of him close enough to almost touch him. I thought no one would dare be this close to me after the scare I just gave everyone. I looked into his eyes. They reflected the same respectful, cautious-curiosity that mine were, but there was something different in them, something I had not seen in any other human. I saw his lip quiver as he stared to say something. I braced myself the onslaught of human vocabulary, but only a single questioned sentence was presented. I heard every syllable perfectly. What was uttered made my jaw drop to the floor, and praise the heavens.

"My God, K-Kovu?"

**_(A/N): Cliff Hanger! Yes, after three months of nothing this is what you get! But don't worry I'm not done, not by a long shot! I might even have chapter four up for a Christmas present. So be looking for it! **

**Please review, no flames, and thanks for reading! ~ SinxhetXXI**

H agre


	4. Chapter 4: Friendship across Languages

Chapter 4: Friendship Across the Language Barrier

A/N: Alright, guys just like I promised. Here's your late holiday present! ;) Chapter four of: To The Good Life and Back Again. A quick note; this chapter contains strong language, this is one of the main reasons this is rated T.

_{Stephen}_

Both of our mouths agape in surprise, our eyes incredulous to what had happened; we stood there for what seemed like an eternity. To break the awkwardness I spoke again. "Kovu?" The giant beast was only able to nod his head "yes," still flabbergasted by my question. Since it was near closing time there weren't many people around to see my initial jumping-out-of-my-skin reaction when I found out that this animal could completely competently understand me. I couldn't even believe it myself; so I straight out asked him. "Can you understand everything I'm saying?" He had finally snapped out of his dumbfounded shock and gave a quick nod of his head. I looked at him again, and saw the same face as my drawing: serious, but curious, sad, intense eyes that bored a hole into my soul. It was like he was trying to figure me out, like why I was bothering him, or why he could understand me. As we stood there he started to say something to me, but since I didn't speak lion all I heard were a series of short grunts and growls. When he figured this out he put his paw to his forehead like he was embarrassed. I couldn't help but laugh. He growled at me a bit, so I stopped. He lifted up a single paw, and with one outstretched claw he pointed at me. I thought that meant that since I knew who he was he wanted to know who I was so I just flat out told him "My name is Stephen."

_{Kovu}_

A shared silence crept back into our conversation as I analyzed what I was just told. "Stephen," I thought, "Why does that name and face look and sound so familiar? I just can't place it." I looked down at the human again, he looked so nervous, not scared like the keepers, but nervous about our meeting. I was glad that he wasn't scared, but I couldn't help but wonder what he was so nervous about. He spoke again "I know you're not from here, and that you were taken from the wild only a short time ago, so where are you from originally?" I sat there, trying to figure out a way I could tell him, I mean he didn't speak lion so I it was useless to try to explain it verbally. It was just then I figured it out; back home when Rafiki couldn't explain through words, he drew! This would be the first time I had ever tried to use my claws so precisely the result was crude to say the least, but to me I think I drew Pride Rock pretty well for my first time. Stephen watched every stroke I made, trying to figure it out, he even guessed at a few things that made me laugh. Finally when it was done I inclined my head to the drawing. He still looked puzzled so he got as close to the bars as he could and looked down. He turned to me and said "So, it's a bunch of large rocks, and in the angle of the two there is a cave where you slept?" I nodded. "Sounds like a great place." His eyes went from focused to a far-away look, like he was day-dreaming, of what I had no clue. After he came back to his senses he looked up at me and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry," he said "I daze off a lot." I rolled my eyes and shook my head. It's actually kind of funny how you can see so much of yourself in a whole other species. I got closer to the bars as he tried to speak to me in a whisper "I know that you don't like it here, this isn't where you belong, I know that feeling," he stated "So we are going to make a plan to get you out of here, and back to your home; I promise." I couldn't believe what I had just been told! This human barely knew me, and yet he was willing, even promising me that he would get me back home! Overwhelmed with excitement I did the only thing I thought appropriate. I reached one paw out to him, wrapped it around his shoulder and pulled him into an embrace. I looked at him; his eyes still shimmering in my own: hope. I let go and let him step back a bit. He spoke once more "It's going to be long road, and we are going to have some problems," he chuckled, "Especially in the communication department, but with luck, and a whole lot of planning we'll find a way." He then slowly raised his arm and put his hand towards me. I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do so I sniffed at him. A thousand different smells came to me at once, it was like an overload! I recoiled back a bit and tried to shake the scents out of my muzzle. He laughed a bit at my reaction then explained to me that it's something humans do to establish a friendship. I put my paw out to him, and he placed his hand flat against it. "Friends with a human," I thought, "Maybe this place won't be as bad as Yuddhaya says it is."

_{The Next Day}_

My second day in that place was particularly hectic. The crowds of humans gawking at me just wouldn't cease. After meeting Stephen I tried a few more time to communicate with them, but it seems my roars only excited them more towards my confinement. So I thought the best thing to do was to lay down and try my best to cover my ears with my paws. They only continued to get louder. I blew air out of my muzzle in a frustrated sigh; Stephen apparently saw my fit of rage the day before and warned me about watching my temper. I thought "What would Simba do in this situation... Ah! Right." At that point I stood up, puffed out my chest, and let out the most majestic roar I could; not one of anger, but of attention. Everyone was silent, and it was wonderful! Wouldn't Simba be proud? While others just stared blankly there was a sudden cry from the middle of my audience.

"Tommy? Tommy! Oh my God, has anyone seen my boy?"

Stephen taught me to listen to every syllable said. It makes human speech that much easier to understand. Apparently this woman had lost her cub, and judging from the new smell in my domain I believe I found him. Now I know the exact way a mother lioness looked when her cub was threatened. Looking out I saw a clear representation of Nala's fiery eyes in her own as she raved at the supposed danger her cub was in. I saw this not as a problem, but as an opportunity. Like Aiehu was giving me a test at father-hood before I became one. Kiara and I had been planning on having cubs of our own, but never felt like we were ready. We were waiting for a sign, and I saw this as mine.

By my eyes the man-cub was only several weeks old, barely walking on his shaky legs. I sat down as he slowly waddled his way to me yelling at me calling me "Kitty!" I thought that was just plain cute. The mother, however, wasn't sharing the emotion. She continued her screaming."Tommy, Tommy… Stay away from the Kitty; that is a bad kitty. TOMMY! Listen to Mommy, come back here. Zookeeper! Zookeeper come quickly!"

She was starting to annoy me so I tuned her out, which was hard to do. I instead focused my attention on Tommy who continued his path to where I sat. As curious as I was at his age I never went near anything that was big as I am now. I smiled at his courage. My smile faded however when he fell over a loose stone in his way. He began to cry. Simba once told me that a King is for his people, and must care for all of them. This was my opportunity to test my readiness for my kingship.

I walked as slowly; as cautiously as I could to the fallen man-cub. I gave him the lowest, slowest growl I could to try to tell him not to be worried. I nuzzled him and gave him a small lick on his forehead. The tears stopped flowing, and he smiled; laughed really. It made me happy, I was genuinely happy. He began gently petting my mane as I searched for a place to pick him up so not to hurt him. The back of the neck is where mother lionesses carry their young, but I knew this was not the same for humans from observing their habits. So I gently grabbed the back of his other skin or "clothes" as Yuddhaya had put it. I brought him over to the crowd where the bars were a little bigger so I could fit the cub through. The mother snatched him from me all the while screaming "Give me back my baby you beast!" I rolled my eyes at her turned my back, and ran up to my sleeping rock. I've had enough of them for the day.

_{Stephen}_

I woke up violently from my dream. Sitting up in my bed stretching I mumbled "Man, that was a great dream." Barely awake I noticed the time was 1:02 A.M. So I got up, grabbed a coat and headed out the door. I figured going for a walk would get me tired, and the fresh air would help me think about this whole "Kovu" business. I walked to an open field (Nebraska has a lot of those,) and looked up to the stars. I remembered doing the same thing with my great-grandfather Joseph years ago.

He showed me many constellations: Orion, Sirius, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and the last one he showed me was Leo the Lion. He told me that Leo was the most important because the star that represented his eye was a piece of Heaven, and if I ever had trouble to pray to that star. He said if I did this God would hear my prayer, and send me an angel. But, it might not be what I was expecting.

I stopped believing in that bull two years ago when Joseph contracted some rare African disease. I prayed and prayed. Did God answer me? Hell no! In bringing back those memories tears sprang to my eyes. I slammed my fist into the ground and cursed the sky above. "Where are your angels now, huh? Where are they you Bastard," screaming at the stars I continued my rage," What the hell is up with all of this lion crap? I never asked for this, never wanted this! Now I have the responsibility of some poor soul in a zoo all because of a dream, what is that? Is that the angel you promised grandfather, how the fuck is a lion supposed to help me?"

I broke down into violet sounds, sobs, whimpering like a child. Looking up once more I noticed clouds forming "Stupid Nebraskan weather." I said under my breath. Staring at the clouds I noticed they began to swirl. "Oh, no," I thought "Please don't let that be a funnel cloud; the last thing I need right now is a tornado."Suddenly, the cloud shot down from the sky reaching the ground only about ten feet away from me. It wasn't a tornado because there was no wind, only clouds. Curious I walked up to the cloud and poked it.

As the saying goes "Curiosity killed the cat." The sudden roar blew me back a few more feet. The cloud dissipated and standing underneath it was a massive golden pelted lion, with a brown-russet mane. His gaze went right through me. He spoke "Child of Man, stand." I did as I was told, he continued "Do you know me, you must at least recognize me?" He smiled. It was barely a smile, but a smile none-the-less. The only thing I could do was shake my head "No." He in turn shook his own head "You humans, so blind to everything around you." He nodded a reference to me "You hold my face in your hands, and you still don't see me?"

Only then did I notice I had my grandfather's mask gripped between my palms. I thought this through; he said this mask was his face, but it wasn't made with lion hide. It was wood. With a shaky voice I muttered "What do you mean, this was mask was carved by a friend of my great-grandfather it was made for him because it was said that his courage was lion-like." The great beast raised an eyebrow "Do you know what proved his courage?" I shook my head once more "No." He walked a few feet closer to me until we were face-to-face. Gently he stated "Just as you are helping my great-grandson regain his land; your great-grandfather helped me regain mine from the clutches of your kind." His voice ended in a slight snarl, and it frightened me. It made me second guess my decision to help Kovu. I realized that I was trying to defy my own human laws to help a single animal who could kill me in seconds if he wanted. "You are confused, indecisive," The Lion spoke in a kind-stern voice "The reason this is on you is because it is a part of your destiny, your history. This is your Circle of Life."

It was then I knew that what this lion said was legitimately made to help me figure this out. Joseph always told me about the Circle of Life, and about the delicate balance that holds it in place. With that I latched onto the shoulders of the great lion and pleaded with him. "I want to help, but how? How do I help him and his whole pride if I can't understand anything they try to tell me?" He smirked "I was wondering when you were going to get to that, it's the main reason I came down from my star in Heaven to give you your great-grandfather ultimate gift. To truly make you understand your purpose in the Great Circle of Life." I stared forward "His ultimate gift, what do you mean?" He chuckled and sighed, rolling his eyes like Kovu had done so many times before. "Humans need everything drawn out for them, so maybe this will help you out the most." With that statement he pounced on top of me pinning my arms against his massive paws. He stared into my eyes I could see great colors reflected in his own. He took a giant breath, and let out an amazing roar that shook the trees. He let me up and calmly he stated "You've been given the gift of Tongues in Animal, use it wisely Stephen, and if you ever need me call out "Ahadi" to Astra de Leo, and I as well as our Lord will be listening, as always." In a flash he disappeared along with the storm clouds.

A/N: Alright guys there you go! There is plenty to come after this. I want to give a special thanks to Simbafan for letting borrow some ideas from his "Pride Trilogy." Please review and if you have any questions just email me at . Thanks! ~ SinxhetXXI


	5. Chapter 5: Back story, much?

Chapter 5: Back story, much?

A/N: Hello, my loyal fans! Hope you are all doing well… So it is my birthday on Friday and as an early birthday present to myself ^-^ I decided to upload this chapter, and hopefully a new chapter will follow shortly. So without further ado…

My walk back home was not unlike a dream. I was slightly light-headed, voices that I never heard before danced around me, and the night seemed a little brighter than usual. I was beginning to wonder if I had a sleepwalking episode; if I hadn't dreamed it all. Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a lone barn owl up in one of the many spruce trees that lined the sidewalk that I treaded upon. So, I stopped and looked at the small bird-of-prey, and thanked God that there wasn't anyone around at 2-something in the morning to see me making a fool of myself. I slowly asked the small creature "Hey, ummm…Could you please say something for me, anything, the simplest of sentences will do. It replied back with a solemn "Whoo." My shoulders slumped. I knew it was too good to be true. I started my own solemn stretch into the early morning.

A sudden "Hey!" made me jump. I turned around, expecting to see a jogger or someone out on an early-morning walk as I was, but no one was there. I shrugged my shoulders and began to turn around. The same voice came again "Hey, Human!"

Looking back up into the tree I had just passed I saw the barn owl staring down at me. I pointed to myself. The owl opened its beak "Yes, you," He continued as I stared dumbfounded "Do you see any other humans out here?" It was like my conversation with Ahadi all over again; I could only shake my head "No." He said "Now then as I was asking before you so rudely abandoned my query; who are you?" I laughed at my own stupid assumption of the owl species, "I'm Stephen."

"Well, Stephen, I am called Osinko." He bowed in bowed his head slightly in a polite salutation.

"Oh-sin-koh, huh, that's a pretty unusual name."

"Oh-shin-ko is how it's pronounced; it's native to these lands," He said "It means screech owl."

"But, you're a barn owl, aren't you?"

"Yes, my mother used to tell me that I squawked up a storm as a hatchling, so my behavior became my name."

I stifled a chuckle when I noticed his predator-like-gaze upon me. He lightened up and said "I'm used to it by now. He must've started to trust me at that point because he descended from his high perch down to a branch that was at about eye-level.

He sat there face-to-face with me for a minute or so before I spoke up.

"Ummmm…What?"

"I don't get it, are you sure that you are completely human?"

"Of course, what gave you the idea that I wasn't?"

"Well, first of all you're speaking fluent owl, before whenever I tried to communicate with a human the only thing I would hear would be just a mess of sound. With you it's like I'm talking to another bird. So, what I'm saying is tell me how you're speaking my language." He said "It's only fair that you tell me of your past, since I told you of mine."

I chuckled at his request "I guess you're right," I continued "So, about three days ago…"

_{About a hour later}_

"So, you dreamt about being the lion, then you drew him, and you finally met him yesterday afternoon; then you woke up, walked out to that field, met his great-grandfather, he roared at you, and now you have the ability of animal speech?" Osinko relayed the information I had just told him.

"Yep, that's pretty much it." I said. "It's that, and…"

"Since you got him captured in the first place you are afraid of the consequences."

"Wow, you're really insightful!" I complimented him.

"I am an owl, after all."

We shared a good laugh. I yawned and looked at my phone "Oh, crap, its 3:00; I only have three hours to sleep, before my parent get me up!" I turned to Osinko "Do you know how to get to Lakeway Drive?"

"That human-lake-house place with the new goslings?" he licked his beak, "I'll take you there follow me!" He flew off with me in hot pursuit.

With my guidance we reached my house in less than ten minutes. Quietly sneaking into a second-story bedroom isn't as easy as they make it seem on T.V. Getting up there was an extra ten minutes. Osinko was nice enough to unlatch the eyehooks that kept my window closed. I stepped into my bedroom in enough time to see my bedside clock turn 3:30 A.M. I turned around to thank Osinko for helping me through this already rough morning, but he was already gone. Later in the morning I would wake up to find a dead gosling on my window sill, a morbid memento of our friendship.

_{Kovu}_

I was sleeping relatively well, and having a relaxing dream of being at the waterhole with Kiara when a familiar voice echoed through my subconscious.

"Cub, hey, get up, we need to talk."

I groggily opened my eyes and searched for Yuddhaya; it was her voice calling for me. I found her in the haze of the early morning standing where she usually was beside my cage.

"Yuddhaya," I yawned," the sun's barely up yet, what do you want?"

"Exactly what I said a short while ago; we need to talk."

I lapped some water from my tiny waterhole to get rid of my cottonmouth "About what?"

"That Human you were talking to into the wee hours of the evening, what have I told you about them?" She asked a snarl to her words. She seemed more and more like my mother every day.

I'm if anything not the lion I was when my mother asked me the question I stood my ground "He showed me respect; respect is to be given back when it is received." She rolled her eyes. I continued defending my pride as well as Stephen's I was determined to show Yuddhaya that not all humans are the same. "There was something in him, something that I hadn't seen in any other human, and his eyes, Yuddhaya you wouldn't believe it; his eyes held everything that I had in my own. That's not even the best part, I could actually understand him, I could understand everything he said it was crystal clear as opposed to the other humans who I can only understand a few words."

Her ears perked at this "Oh, really," she asked "Then this human is very special, indeed."

I nodded. My optimism quickly changed to a questioning face "What do you have against humans anyway, you're eighteen-years-old, and in excellent health, you have to be grateful to them for that at least."

Her ears dropped, and she sighed "You're gonna have to lie down for this one, it's kind of long. My resentment of humans goes back to when I was only a few months old; when I was just a cub in Sri Lanka.

_{Yuddhaya}_

Though I was only a newborn a few weeks prior; I still remember the storm that drove my mother and me into the saltwater to the island south of our home. The island was a place the humans called "Sri Lanka." It was here where I grew far into my cubhood. My mother taught me at a young age to hunt for myself. The other thing I learned at a young age was the evil that was the human race. When I was still early in my cubhood; my mother told me that the humans were fighting each other over their land; in a sort of civil war. She also told me of her dreams of me prevailing through a war, and so her dream of this "war" became what I was to be called. A while later my mom took me out hunting with her to see if I could get my own meal. While we were hunting my mother was shot down by one of the humans. Apparently we were on _his_ land. I didn't know what to do. I was blind with rage; all I could do was charge with my claws extended for a pounce. I was unconscious before I hit the ground. Those sleep-stingers were the blame. I guess I was _too cute_ _to kill_, I heard one of them say. When I awoke I was in one of these, she tapped on the bar, and for eighteen years I've been shipped from zoo to zoo all over the world. As far as how healthy I am relative to my age it's only because I will never ever die in the shameful way my mother did. I will _**never**_ let the humans take my life. I plan on dying of old age, and before I do, these humans will hear my story, my destiny will be fulfilled. I will begin a war with the species called homo sapien, and it will be glorious!

_{Kovu}_

I spent those minutes listening to her rage and rave about her life, and while her story was quite sad I couldn't believe the contempt she held for humans. My eyes were wide with fear. I didn't think she would actually go through with anything, but after her little story I took everything she said as legitimate. Her ending roar increased that belief. She smiled at me again. "Satisfied?" she asked. She then walked over to the side of her cage as far away as she could. I did the same to let her words sink in. I also had to think of a way to keep Stephen safe from her murderous claws.

A/N: Whew! There you go! Chapter 5 is finished! Thanks for reading, and thank you more for reviewing (it is greatly appreciated.) As I said earlier chapter 6 is coming very shortly, and I can promise it will be longer.

Until next time,

~ The Puppet Master ~ SinxhetXXI


	6. Chapter 6: Holy Sh t, You Can Talk?

Chapter 6: Holy Sh!t, You Can Talk!

(A/N): Okay, people! Chapter six is here. I figured since I put this under both the adventure and humor, that I might as well put some humor in when I can. Don't worry; this isn't filler, there's plenty of plot to go around. R&R please, and as always, enjoy!

Those two-and-a-half hours of sleep didn't do too much. I guess my mind was at ease; because I didn't dream. It was rather strange, and I was only groggier after the nap. It was my mom's shrill soprano voice that woke me from my slumber. "Stephen! Get down here, now!"

"And so it begins," I mumbled preparing myself for a good lecture from my parents.

With her hands on her hips _again_, and my Dad with his arms crossed my mom began her rant "You are one lucky man you know that! You're lucky that we didn't check our answering machine yesterday. We just got the message that your vice principal sent us about you fighting in school, then ditching; what were you thinking! Listen honey, we know you don't like it here, but this our home now so you better get used to it. Now explain yourself."

I sighed, I hated lying to my parents, but what was I supposed to do; tell them what really happened? "I'm still trying to get the feel of my new school; it's so different from California. Some kid has been bullying me for the past week I didn't know what else to know do. The VP started taking his side when he started sucking-up to her. I left because I didn't feel like anyone was interested in what I was trying to justify. You guys are the ones that are always telling me that 'actions speak louder than words,' so I thought that the only appropriate thing to do."

My Dad with his arms still crossed spoke "Well, despite your attempts on justifying your situation, I'm afraid we will still have to punish you." He continued, "Your Mom and I were going to let you sleep in today, but because you haven't spent any time with your family for the past week we made a decision to make you come on a little adventure with us and your sister."

I was used to my parents' weird sense of punishment so I just kind of shrugged it off with a "frustrated" sigh, "Where are we going?"

At this point my little six-year-old sister came bounding down the stairs, still in her pajamas screaming "THE ZOO!"

"Jean, use your inside voice, please," my Mom scolded.

My young sister looked at her feet, "Sorry Mommy." Her head suddenly shot up and her eyes widened "Oh, no I forgot to bring Spotty down for breakfast!" She then proceeded to run up the stairs to her room.

I rolled my eyes and facepalmed. Spotty was Jean's little stuffed animal, who just happened to be a cheetah; her favorite animal. This whole "cheetah" thing first sparked about a year-and-a-half ago. She was bored so she turned on the T.V. to find something to watch. She inevitably found the Wild Kingdom special on cheetahs. She's obsessed over them ever since. I was always indifferent towards animals. I acknowledged their existence, and that was about it. Just recently my mind on the subject was changed, and rightfully so. I just wasn't all in-your-face about it, like my sister. She was extremely excited about going to the zoo, as most kids are. She was even more so when she asked:

"Daddy, are there cheetahs at this zoo?"

My Dad scratched at his chin, thinking. "You know, I think they do, three in fact. One older male and two younger ones: a male and a female. Who will probably end up being mates.

She practically started doing back flips. I don't think I ever saw anyone so energetic, so excited about anything else. I too was excited about the zoo. This would give me the perfect chance to talk to some of the animals there to see what zoo life was actually like, but the best part of this gift was that I would be able to actually talk to Kovu; to get his story. Then, maybe then we could figure out a way to get him free, and back to where he belonged.

My Dad tapped me on the shoulder "Stephen, enough daydreaming, we all had breakfast, and before we leave for the zoo at 10:30 you need to get some chores done. After all what is a punishment without a little labor?" he chuckled, my Dad had a very cruel sense of humor to him it seemed.

I did my morning chores: dishes, laundry, sweeping, and dusting. With only thirty minutes left to get ready I hopped into the shower, and dressed for the day. I figured I'd wear the Nebraska Cornhuskers shirt that my Mom got me a few days ago. Maybe if I showed her that I somewhat actually liked this state she would lessen my punishment, and let me wander a bit when we got to the zoo.

The ride on the way was mundane to say the least. It was basically the same for every "family event" we did together. My parents listened to their oldies station, while I listened to my iPod, and my sister slept to quote-unquote preserve her energy for the adventure ahead. We got to the zoo as soon as it had opened at 11. I prayed and prayed that Missy wouldn't be working. Thankfully she wasn't. I didn't need her to see me with my boring parents and overly-energetic sister. We all got our tickets, stepped through the turnstiles, and started on our journey.

As I recalled from the day before the first thing we came upon was several statues depicting a pride of rather fierce looking lions. My sister let out a small, scared whine, and grabbed onto my Dad's hand. My Dad looked down at her and said in a quiet voice "They're just statures, Jean, they won't hurt you."

"I know," came her reply "but why do they have to look so scary; they're nothing like cheetahs," she said while she tightened her grip on Spotty's cotton-fiber waist.

I couldn't help but interject, "Actually, lions are in the same family as cheetahs; they are both African big cats, and nothing more than close cousins." I smiled at her and she gave a shy smile back. I hope she didn't act this way at the Cat Complex.

My Mom with her eccentric personality said "Well as Julie Andrew said or rather sang 'let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.'" She added without singing," The Desert Dome looks fun, and it is an almost perfect replica of several different deserts spanning from America to Asia…" She said more, but I tuned her out. I was worried more about what I would hear once we got inside. I hoped it wasn't anything bad, and because my luck was the way it was of course it was going to be.

Going through the first couple rooms was okay. There was nothing too annoying; well, except for the camera-happy birds. The persistent squawking of "photo," really got on my nerves. The rest of my family, not being able to understand the birds, gladly took pictures; while I tried my damndest to snake my way through the path without causing too many problems. I was relieved when we finally got out of that Hell. My relief was short lived; however.

The next room led to the enclosures of many assorted desert mammals. What I heard far out-weighed the heart-break of what I saw. The first animal we came upon was an American cougar. It was pacing, at an unnatural speed. Stopping only every once in awhile to groom itself repeatedly in the same spot. While this sign of on-coming insanity was devastating to look at. What it said made it worse. "Find a way out," was repeated again, and again. I finally tapped my mom on the shoulder to get her out of her camera-happy attitude, and back into reality.

Once I got her attention I pointed up towards the cougar and said, "Mom, look at that cougar, pacing back-and-forth like that, it can't be natural." My mom sighed.

"I know, honey, it is pretty sad isn't it, too bad we can't help it any;" her mood took a sudden upward change, like she couldn't be seen pitying a zoo animal," well, let's move along; shall we?" We traveled swiftly through the rest of the deserts, until we came to a sign that said "Now Entering the Kingdoms of the Night."

"Oh, right," my Dad exclaimed," this is the nocturnal exhibit they put in a little while after the Desert Dome was finished." I don't think my little sister understood what "Kingdoms of the Night," meant. When we walked into the almost pitch dark she nearly clung to my Dad's leg. My Dad grabbed her small hand, and let her death-grip it as much as she wanted to on our way through. As expected the rooms were very dark to try to keep the nocturnal inhabitants happy. The first room was all bats, hundreds of them, flapping their wings just inches away from our faces; luckily separated by glass. My Mom although her facial expression was fear based said with a happy tone "Let's take some more pictures to send to your aunts and uncles back in California!" She then proceeded to snap a few shots of the vampire bats. She had left the flash on for the photos. The bats really didn't like that. One of them even screamed at her.

"Hey, you stupid biped, can't you read!"

I had to stifle a laugh while looking for what "Dracula" was talking about. I then saw a small yellow sign to one side of the confinement which read "Flash photography is prohibited." I pointed it out to my Mom, and explained that it hurts the bats' eyes. She then went about the task of awkwardly resetting her camera.

We walked onward; the damp cold of the cave slowly turned into a Louisianan bayou, complete with redneck cabin fixtures: old photos, oil lamps, fishing equipment, wooden bridges, and a wide assortment of caimans, crocodiles, and alligators, including the infamous albino alligator that was on-loan from a zoo in Louisiana. This really freaked out my sister, so to save everyone else from her whining we quickly exited and headed straight for the stairs leading up towards the outside.

Once we had all caught our breath we went to a rest stop to get some water and to figure out what we wanted to do next. My Dad set down the map so we could all see; he wanted everyone's input.

"So where to-," my Dad was cut short by my sister.

"The cheetahs, I want to see the cheetahs, can we go to that Cat duplex-thingy?"

My Mom gave a short giggle at Jean's mispronunciation "The Cat Complex, dear, and well the answer depends on what your Dad and brother think. I for one have wanted to see the new lion they advertised about in yesterday's paper. He's supposed to have an unusual color to his fur."

"That sounds pretty interesting," My Dad said "What do you think, Stephen?"

I tried to be as nonchalant as I could "Sure," I said "I actually need to take some notes for a-a Biology paper." As stated before I hated lying to my parents, but it had to be done.

"Well, let's go, Cat Complex, here we come," came my Dad's reply. Jean nearly shot out of her chair. She had to hold both my parents' hands to keep her from running off.

It's a pretty long walk to the Cat Complex, though it is mostly downhill. I spent most of our walking time thinking about what I was going to talk to Kovu about, well that, and I just wanted to see the look on his face when I showed him my new trick.

My family and I walked slowly while entering the sanctum of the Cat complex. The cages were very open for the animals, but the people on the inside got a nice, air-conditioned walk through. Which I thought was pretty unfair, I mean hell; the animals are probably hotter than we are; with all that fur and everything. It seems like I was right when I said that Nebraska was socially backwards.

My parents thought that today would be a good day to go to the zoo, and so did everyone else. The crowd surrounding Kovu's cage was enormous. Poor guy, he probably just wanted to be left alone, people just don't get that do they, when an animal is to the back of his cage and looks up only to scowl at you, I'm pretty sure that's a sign that he doesn't want company, or at least that much; and because Kovu was attracting all of the attention the other big cats weren't getting any that they were used to. A quick glance around to the other cages showed how bored they were; most just lied about soaking in the sun. The chatter going on around the enclosure was immense; Jean had to cover her ears. That's when I got an idea. If I couldn't talk to Kovu, then I'd talk to one of the animals that were by him, that way I get to meet more of the inhabitants of the complex and Kovu gets one less ear-full. It was perfect. Just by coincidence the three cheetah enclosures were just across the large hall to Kovu's cage. Jean nearly squealed when she saw them, she began hopping up and down, very excited. Another bright idea popped into my head.

I tapped my Mom on the shoulder "Hey, do think I could go with Jean to see the cheetahs over there," I pointed to the cages, "She's really excited to see them, and this way you two can have as much time as you want watching the new lion."

My Mom nodded, "That's a great idea, go ahead, and Stephen, be sure you keep her in your sights at all times I don't want to make this a trip to the hospital."

"No worries," I smiled as I turned to Jean "You wanna go see your cheetah friends, don't you, squirt, well come on." This was followed by a loud "Yay," and the scrambling of little feet as I took my sisters' hand and led her over to the two cheetahs my Dad spoke about.

_{Sandu}_

I watched them with anticipation as they approached. I was grateful really; they would be just about the only ones to give us any attention all day. Thanks to the hype that was our new neighbor, Kovu, neither I nor my mate-to-be Ira were getting any sort of praise. That was, until I spied an adolescent coming our way with a small female man-cub in front.

I quickly jumped to my feet and gave myself the quickest tongue-bath I could to look presentable. I did a few quick bounds to the front of my bars to get a better look at them. There was something odd about the adolescent, like he knew something, but wasn't telling. His eyes told it more than anything. But, he wasn't the focus of my attention. The little one, the child that had the adolescent in tow was one of the cutest man-cubs I've ever seen. Her eyes sparkled with an innocence that measured high above all others. A pudgy face and the way she wore her head-fur in two high knots accented those big, almost glowing, blue eyes even more, and in her little arm she held a small fabricy-animal that was made in the likeness of my kind. An almost accurate make of a cheetah cub. Now that I think about it looked a lot like me. I smiled at that. I'm glad to see at least one of them appreciates us. I thought it was time to wake up Ira; so naturally, I just started chirping his name.

"Ira, hey, Ira, get up!"

"What do you want, Sandu?" He replied, "I'm trying to soak up some sun." He was laying belly up in what little sun came into his cage, luckily for me it was very near the edges of my own cage. So I began tapping his face with my tail.

"Ira, you have to get up, we have company," he didn't even budge, "One of them is the cutest little-ones I've ever seen!" He stirred, flashing his golden eyes up at me; he gave a slight, growl.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it, but if she isn't completely adorable I'm gonna eat her-"

I interrupted with a small smirk "You couldn't do that, even if you wanted to."

He smiled at me "I know….I just wanted to sound kind of…" His voice slowly trailed off as the two humans got within the allowed distance, the stench of man wafted into our little homes. It took him only a matter of seconds before he saw what I was talking about. He pretty much scared the two out of their shoes at his little antics.

"YOU ARE SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE!" was the only audible thing I could pick up, the rest of his cutesy-gushing was mixture of words, high pitched growls, and chirps. When Ira is impressed he shows it. While the two humans were laughing at Ira, I tried to get the little girl's focus on me by rubbing against my bars and chirping lightly at her in a playful tone. It worked. She stared pointing and giggling at me; she turned and said something to the older human. He in turn pointed at me and said "Well, I think that's the male," and then pointed at Ira and said ", and that's the female."

Ira got embarrassed and offended at this and without thinking he scolded "Hey, it's the other way around, I'm the male" pointing at me with a single paw "She's the female."

The human male blushed, like he knew what was going on, and without missing a beat he answered in a nervous chuckle "Oh, I'm sorry."

Our jaws nearly hit the floor; Ira was the one to break the silence. He stared forward locking his gaze with the human male. "Holy shit, you can talk!" I rolled my eyes at his eloquent response. The human's eyes shifted back and forth between us two, and his face went pale; the child had a cute confused look as she turned her gaze to the male. He stammered at first then said to the younger one, "Stay right here real quick. I'm gonna go see what Mom and Dad are up to; don't do anything stupid." The smaller one nodded and the Talking-male walked awkwardly away.

Before Ira and I could start up a conversation the small female crossed the human boundary, and reached her little hand to my head. I was hesitant at first, but then I realized that I would probably never get this chance again. So, I leaned into her petting, and started the most sincere purr I've ever used. She started to say something to me when she was suddenly jerked away from my head by the Talking-male. He started to scold her, "Jean," he screamed, "what do you think you're doing, don't you know how dangerous those cats are, and they're not the same as the cheetahs on TV. These are wild animals, not trained pets." He continued scolding her for her bad behavior. She probably wasn't used to him talking to her with such a raised voice and she began to cry. The salty sting of her tears burned in my nostrils, and I backed off a bit. Ira stayed where he was. He walked to the edge of his enclosure, and spoke calmly and quietly to the male.

"Please," the male looked up, "please make her stop crying; I don't like to see them sad and afraid… I just can't stand the smell of a child's tears."

The Talking-male stooped down to the younger one's level, and quieted her down. He spoke very softly to her almost a whisper he said, "Hey, look, I'm sorry for yelling at you; I just don't want you to get hurt, you understand?"The younger one nodded again, and wiped her red puffy eyes. "Good," he said with a smile. "Listen, I'll make you a deal; I won't tell Mom and Dad about what just happened, and you won't tell anyone, about what I'm about to do." He glanced at us, and then back to the little one, "You promise," she nodded. He held out one of his fingers "Pinky swear." They intertwined fingers and held them there; I swear I'll never understand humans. They then walked over to the boundary between us. The male spoke to me.

"Could you tell me what your names are?"

"Sandu," I replied shyly; it was awkward talking to a human. I referenced to Ira with my paw, "That's Ira."

The human laughed a little, "Everyone I meet has such strange names; what is the origin?" He asked.

I looked at the ground, I had never been asked before, "I don't know, but when I was in the nursery, the dark skinned human would call me Sandu, if I remember right it means moon. I think it's pretty fitting." I winked my blind eye.

He looked over to Ira," What about him, he doesn't look like he has any identifying traits about him."

Ira gave a small smirk, "When I was brought here as a small cub, I was very, very shy; I had to be put into special care." Ira continued, "The human that took care of Sandu also took care of me, she would always talk about how my eyes gleamed like the sun; so she playfully began calling what I believe in her language means sun, Ira, and it stuck." Ira started laughing, so did the human. The human between his chuckles said, "That is the corniest story I've ever heard."

"Oh, yeah," Ira challenged, putting his face to the bars," then what's your name, funny-boy?"

"Stephen," he said plainly, "I have no idea what it means, my parents just gave it to me because I guess to them it sounded right," he paused then added "Oh, and this is my sister, Jean."

I walked up as close to Stephen as I could get. I wanted to be as sincere as possible, "I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" he asked.

"For earlier, I didn't mean to scare you into thinking that Jean was in any kind of trouble; she really wasn't, I rather enjoyed being petted, it reminded me of my days in the nursery." He looked as if he was hanging on every word I spoke so I continued "I would never in my right mind do harm to anyone, let alone an innocent child; please forgive me." I added. Stephen smiled; he actually smiled at me genuinely.

"Of course you're forgiven, I'm just trying to be a good older brother, you know?" He turned his attention to Ira "And, you, you are a total spaz," he added with a quick laugh," What was all that jumping and noises you were making?"

Ira stared down at his paws, he was so cute when he was embarrassed "Well, I was just really excited, your sister is just so precious I couldn't hold in my cub-like nature." He gave a little nervous chuckle.

Stephen looked at Ira with a quizzical stare, "Why are you so interested in my little sister?" He said this while slowly putting himself in front of little Jean, this one was really protective; almost lion-like in the back of my head I wondered it this was the human Kovu was talking about.

Ira scratched his head while trying to come up with a sane sounding answer. Stephen's question was actually one we've been trying to answer ourselves for some time now. Hopefully Ira was able to come up with something.

"Well…ummm…you see… It's just that… When we see someone so lively and full of youth, like Jean, we sort of age backwards mentally and start acting like cubs ourselves. Contrary to popular belief cheetahs are actually very playful, and as Sandu said we would never ever harm anything or anyone who had never done us any wrong; if that makes sense."

Stephen nodded, "It makes perfect sense sort of a 'monkey see monkey do' thing; except with this it's cheetah see cheetah do." We all laughed at his corny joke then he said "Excuse me a minute." He turned to talk to his sister so Ira and I went back to our sun-bathing

(A/N): Alright people, that was chapter 6! Sorry, that is took so long. Being an involved college student has its tolls, you understand, right? So, I already have chapter 7 started, it should be up by the middle of April. See you all soon, and happy reviewing.

~ The Puppet Master ~ SinxhetXXI


	7. Chapter 7: An Understanding

(A/N): Chapter 7! I am so sorry that I didn't have this up when I said I would, fourth quarter gets hectic in college, plus being extremely sick doesn't help. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It took me a long time to do, and I believe it is my longest chapter yet. Another thank you to Simbafan for letting me use his character/ idea of "Aiehu" and "Astra de Leo." So, on with the story!

_{Stephen}_

Jean had the cutest little confused expression on her face. It only stayed that way for a few seconds; it was quickly replaced by a look of pure wonder. "Stephen. That's amazing, can you teach me?"

I scratched the back of my head, "It's not really something that can be taught."

She just looked at me "Then how can you do it?"

"Well-," thankfully I was cut off my Dad's voice over the crowd of people.

"Hey, you two, get on over here; we have a whole lot more to see!" Jean reluctantly skipped over to my Dad after saying goodbye to Sandu and Ira who replied in thunderous purrs. I quickly yelled back that I had to make a few more notes for my biology paper, so he gave me an extra five minutes to finish. I had to make this conversation fast. Since Ira was closer to me, I decided I should wake him up instead of talking over him to Sandu.

"Hey, Ira," I whispered "What can you tell me about the lion?"

"Hmmm?" came his absent reply, "Oh, the new guy, Kovu, he keeps to himself most of the time; except for a couple days ago…" His voice sort of trailed off.

"What happened," I asked "Was it bad?"

"No, but he won't stop talking about it," he explained "Apparently he met a human that shared his same emotions, and who he could completely understand; plus he promised he could get him back to his pride."

I blushed a little, out of embarrassment, Ira didn't notice, "Did he say what the human looked like."

"Yeah," he looked right me when he said this, "Kovu said that the human had blue eyes, and a light brown mane, or whatever you call it, that went to about the nape of his neck."

I just stood there, smiling at him. It took him a few moments to get it.

"Wait," he paused, starring right into my eyes, "It was you, you're the one, I thought your name sounded familiar; does, does he know that you can talk?" I shook my head. He actually kind of yelled at me this time, "Well, what are you doing shooting-the-breeze with me for, go talk to him, and get him out of that crappy mood he's been in all morning."

I backed off of his cage, "Fine, fine, I'm going." He nodded his head at me and laid back down as near to Sandu as he could get. I turned around just in time to see the rest of my family come out of the dissipating crowd.

"Hey, bud," my Dad said "Are you ready to go to the next exhibit?"

I scratched the back of my head "Actually, I wanted to see if I could get a good look at the lion; could I stay here with the camera, while you guys take Jean to the rest of the zoo?" My Dad looked like he was contemplating his decision, so I continued, "Since this crowd is dwindling down I bet I could get some good pictures, plus seeing this lion might help me with my report."

He smiled at me" Okay," he said, "Just call us if you go anywhere else, and we'll meet at the car at closing time, sound good?"

I nodded my head "Yeah, thanks Dad, have fun."

"You too, Bud." I watched as the three of them walked out of the Cat Complex, and towards the aquarium. I turned my attention to Kovu's cage as the amount of frustrated people evacuated the premises Soon it was only me and him. Though he didn't look very happy, he actually looked to be the most apathetic animal there. He was backed as far away from the bars as possible, in a small shadow of personal space, the darkness hiding his features leaving only a silhouette of himself to be seen. It wasn't until I got close that I noticed two separate blotches of stained dirt underneath his face. Through the dim light I could see two lines forming from the corner of his eyes to his chin. He was crying, actually crying. I shut my eyes and let my other senses take over, it was only then I noticed a faint melody being sung through a voice choked by sobs of pure depression.

"_Fatshe leso lea halalela_ (Our land is holy.)

_Ndi ya ku khumbula mna _(I miss you.)

_Ndi ya ku khalela mna _(I cry for you.)

_Motswalle waka, ngivelelwe. _(My dear friend, I'm in pain.)

_Mfo wethu, ngi velelwe. _(My dear brother, I'm in pain.)

_Aiehu, we Baba, ngivelelwe. _(Aiehu, my Father, I'm in pain.)

_La la kahle. _(Farewell.)

_La la kahle. _(Farewell.)

_Fatshe leso Lea halalela" _(Our land is holy.)

I opened my eyes; a single tear fell to my cheek. "That was beautiful." I said out loud.

Kovu didn't even bother to look up. "Go away, whoever you are. I've had to suffer the crowd of unrelenting humans; I don't need any more company.

"Kovu," I pleaded "if you would look up, I'm sure you'd reconsider."

A small growl escaped his throat as he slowly lifted his head to look at me "Who are you to think you can tell me how to act, you- Stephen?" He took a quick look around, and then wiped his muzzle with one of his paws."Hey, whoever you are, could you leave me alone with the human, we need to talk in private."

I facepalmed and shook my head, I couldn't tell if he just being ignorant, or if he really couldn't tell that it was me. So I decided to be blunt. "Kovu read my lips," I over-exaggerated so I could get through his thick skull, _" I. am. talking. to. you._"

His face contorted to the most incredulous look I've ever seen from an animal, and he started toward me at a calm pace. He stopped at the bars right in front of my face; green eyes swimming into my own blue ones; starring closer he analyzed me. With a short gasp he took a step back. "You were visited by a King, weren't you," pulling me into an embrace with one arm; he continued, " when did this happen, and when were you planning on telling me?" He let go of me and said "It's getting dark, come on in, I found this- he slid a key over to me- it fell out of one of the Keepers' clothes." He explained "I'm pretty sure it is for my- cage." I smiled back "Great, thanks." I didn't like how he said "cage" I really do need to get him out of here, or else he likely to end up like the tiger next to him.

As I walked around and through the doors that clearly said EMPLOYEES ONLY while texting my parents – _Went to Village Pointe Cinema_ _with a friend from school might spend the night at his place, not far from home. ~ Stephen. - _I wondered if this was a good idea. I mean, yeah, I need to stay to talk to Kovu, and this was the best possible way, but what were we going to do when security did their rounds, and stuff? However, that was the last thing on my mind right then. I only cared about Kovu, and his problems, because the weight on his heart clearly outweighed the weight on my conscious. This crossed my mind as I heard the door unlock and open as I entered the den.

_{Kovu}_

He walked in slowly, very apprehensive, nervous, and he eyed me carefully. He stayed a few strides out of range at all times. It was so awkward; he didn't act like this outside. To break the ice I tried getting some answers out of him. "So," I laid down, crossing my paws over each other, trying to look as unthreatening as possible, "Do you want to tell me what happened since we met, or are you just going to stand there like a frightened wildebeest calf?"

After a quick stare-down he finally loosened up and sat down; though he was still several strides away. I guessed the whole "trust" thing would take some time. After taking a few deep breaths he looked back to me, wringing his hands anxiously. "Well, it all started after I went to bed after first talking to you." He stopped wringing his hands; apparently he just didn't know where to start. "I woke up and walked around my neighborhood aimlessly until I happened upon an open field and realized that I had no idea where I was." He looked up at me, and I nodded for him to continue, though I was confused at the word "neighborhood," I didn't feel like interrupting. "Looking up at the stars I began to think about my grandpa, and all of the things he had taught me; continents, constellations, animals-"

"Constellations, you mean like the shape that the stars make?" I had to interrupt; this all sounded all too familiar to something Simba told me after I was first accepted into the Pride.

"Yeah," he answered, anxiety in his voice, "and this is where it gets weird…" His voice trailed off, he looked away, and began awkwardly rocking back and forth; he was really nervous. While he was busy getting the frog out of his throat, and not paying attention I walked closer to him and slowly laid down to his eye level and put my paw on his shoulder to try to ease him out of his nervousness. He sort-of jumped at my touch, and shot a surprised glance my way. I smiled "Go ahead and say what you need to, I'm not one to judge."

"Well after working out some personal issues I looked to the sky to see the clouds swirling into what I thought was a tornado, but…uh…then… the clouds turned into a…a… -

"The clouds turned into a massive lion didn't it?" My face turned from concerned into a wild grin, this promptly scared Stephen near out-of-his-wits as he backed about as far away as he could from me.

"How did you know that?" He stared at me; his eyes were curious, curious and paranoid.

"Calm down, you humans are too excitable." I rolled my eyes "I guessed that's what happened because it happened to a friend of mine back home. I was told by others that his entire personality changed after his encounter with the spirit of his father – Late King Mufasa – is that who visited you?"

A weak smile returned to his face, "No, no I was visited by a-a King who called himself Ahadi; he said he knew my great-grandfather."

I looked to the sky as I spoke "Ahadi… He was the father of Mufasa, which I guess makes him my great-grandfather too." I looked back down to Stephen, "What did he tell you?"

He started out by letting out a long sigh, like he was waiting to get something off of his chest. "He said that in the same way my grandfather helped him; I must help you, because it was a part of who I was; because it was my Circle of Life."

He scooted closer to me as I asked in a slight chuckle "Was he really that straight-forward, I mean, I would expect a Great King to be all cryptic and mysterious."

"No," he said, "I think he knew that I was already freaked-out enough as it was; still it was pretty terrifying and completely amazing at the same time." I started to speak, but he looked me in the eyes with something still on his consciousness, so I shut up to let him confess himself. "Do," he struggled with his words," Do lions believe in God?"

I was taken aback I didn't really understand his question, so I answered it as truthfully as possible, "Lions believe in many things, but what you are asking is kind of vague, you might want to rephrase it, you know, speak lion, don't use so many human words." I smiled, and he mirrored me.

He gave a slight smirk and muttered "Who knew the Gift would be so complicated?" He looked back at me with a newfound look in his eyes. "Right after I was given my grandfather's Gift, the ability to talk to animals, Ahadi told me that he as well as our Lord would be listening, as always." I raised an eyebrow; I think I was starting to get what he was trying to ask me. "What I meant to ask was, do lions believe in a Creator a supernatural being above all others, who made the Earth and all who inhabit it, and who cares and watches over the creatures of the Earth?" He looked at me, hope in his eyes. I stared back as a wide grin spread across my own. The grin turned to a chuckle, and from there to an all out laugh that had me rolling on the ground in convulsions.

While I was busy laughing I barely noticed Stephen's head drop and the faint salty scent of tears that filled my muzzle. As soon as I fully noticed what was going on I sprung to my paws and strode over to my crying friend. Gently nuzzling him I calmly said to him, "Hey, quit that, I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at your question. I just couldn't believe that you were that embarrassed about asking. He looked up at me and wiped the remaining tears off of his face. He looked me square in the eyes and I saw where he was gonna go so I beat him to the punch "The answer is 'yes,'" I said, "Lions do have an Almighty King, who we look up to, and who we believe is the Creator and Protector of all life on Earth, he is said to be a great lion with a golden brown pelt and the wildest golden mane in existence, we call him by one name: Aiehu." I continued with my tale, pacing around my cage like a master storyteller, using as much detail as Simba did when he first told me of the Great King Aiehu. Stephen's seemingly tired frame drifted to the ground as he intently watched and listened to my story.

" I was told by the present king of my homeland that in the beginning There was only Aiehu and Astra de Leo, that is the star where all good lions go when they die, it's our own personal Heaven; Aiehu felt that he needed companionship, that something needed to be done about the vast nothingness that "existed" outside of Astra de Leo, and so he plucked a single hair from his great mane, throwing it not-too-far outside Astra de Leo he gave a great roar which caused the hair to expand until it exploded. The absolute center of the explosion became the Sun, and the other particles of the explosion the various stars. The brightest burning ember of the explosion was picked by Aiehu to be inhabited by creatures that he created in his own likeness, but before he made them he had to make the world he chose peaceful, beautiful, and pure. He cooled the ember my blowing a great wind on it. He used his great claws to carve the rivers into ember he now named "Earth." I demonstrated on the rocky ground of my confinement, Stephen looked mesmerized at my telling I smiled and continued. "In making the river, he piled the dirt into towering masses which he called mountains. He thought his work so beautiful he cried a single tear of joy, this one tear pooled onto the Earth, making all the rivers and oceans of the world. The moisture from the tear nourished the ground and created plant life, all sorts of grasses and trees. He then took an amount of soil from a place most abundant of plant life and formed it to two different versions of himself. He called this creature lion, after his home – Astra de Leo. He made one lion with a mane, like his, making it a male, he made the other without a mane his mate – a female, to be the male's companion and eternal partner for as long as they both lived. He created other creatures for the lion and lioness to live off of: the gazelle, antelope, impala, zebra, and as well as many others. Being the generous Lord he was he gave the other animals mates for themselves to populate the world and let them thrive for as long as he saw fit. And so he sat back and watched, and continues to watch from that star." I pointed a single claw to the Great Eye of Aiehu himself; to Astra de Leo.

I smiled probably the biggest I've ever smiled in this place. I couldn't believe that I had actually remembered all of that. I had actually been in the same tired state as Stephen when Simba told me. Speaking of Stephen; I had gotten so into my Creation Story that I hadn't even noticed that he dozed off right towards the end of my speech. I sighed and said to myself "I hope he waited until right at the end to sleep, because I am not doing that whole monologue again." I watched with curiosity as the human shifted in his sleep, as I walked over to my own sleeping spot I got more and more curious. I hoped that he believed me; I would have to ask him when he woke. I also prayed that he slept well, he needed it, and so did I.

_{Stephen}_

When I woke up I had the same mini-freak-out everyone has in this situation. You know the one where you open your eyes after sleeping in an unfamiliar place and your first thought is _Oh, shit, where am I? _ But, then you figure it out a second later. My little freak-out lasted a bit longer than that. After the initial thought I sat up and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Oh, yeah," I said out loud, "I fell asleep in a lion's den." _And, I'm still alive!_ I sat there for a while and thought about the speech Kovu gave me about his God's version of Creation. Now that I was awake and alert I started to put pieces together, and if I remembered Genesis correctly, then there were a lot of similarities, between his version of Creation, and the humans' version. I even thought for a split-second about God himself. If He was both all powerful and all present, then who's to say he can't take different forms for different species? It made sense to me and I'm only a B- student.

While contemplating this I failed to notice the chill in the air, and the fact that my breath was visible. It was the middle of spring after all, and I was in a t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt, and jeans. I took a quick look at my phone to find that it was only a little past midnight, and I had received a text from my parents giving me the _okay_ to stay at my "friend's place."

While I was inside my own head I lazily started stargazing. I looked directly at the constellation Leo, his eye, what I came to believe to be a piece of Heaven called Astra de Leo, seemed to wink at me. I am not a very observant person so I didn't really notice how terribly I was shaking until a tired, but familiar voice called to me "Are you okay, Stephen?"

Still shaking slightly I shot my head to my left. Kovu was laying down about six to ten feet away from me; a concerned look on his face. He exhaled a great yawn, showing off his large pearly white teeth. On that note I promptly remembered why I was so nervous before. I was inside the cage of a large, fully grown, adult, male lion, who had just been pulled out of the jungle. I almost literally felt my face flush of all color. My courage to the wind I replied with a shaky voice "Y-yeah, j-just a little c-cold, that's all."

He raised an eyebrow, this seemed to be a fixed, incredulous "I don't believe you," smirk. "Oh, really," he said "You wouldn't be lying to a lion, would you?"

I avoided eye contact, "No!" I said almost too quick, afraid of what would come next, the smell of my fear must've been radiating off of me.

He got up and walked slowly and calmly around me in, what I didn't know then, was his faux-stalk that he used to mess around with his non-predator friends. It basically just scared me even more than I already was. Kovu probably thought this was the funniest thing that's ever happened, because he knew that I was genuinely scared, and that he was completely bluffing. After doing a couple more circles for good measure, he sat down only about five feet away. He continued in a sly voice "Because it seems to me that you are as pale as the full moon, shaking like a newborn, and your lips are bluer than your eyes. That tells me that you are very cold, and you need warmth fast, otherwise you'll be in a great sickness, that I'm sure you don't want."

I thought on this for a second and he was completely right, I had pneumonia once as an infant, and almost died. It would be even worse if I got it now, but what was I supposed to do; like I said before: my long-sleeve – t-shirt set was the only warmth I had. Kovu gestured to me "Come here," he said. I stared straight forward, unmoving, too scared-cold, not thinking about the sanity of my situation. He stared back determination in his great, green orbs. "I will not have you getting sick and/or dying while under my charge." I barely heard him; I was too caught up in my own self-preservation against this great beast. I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the pain of his claws or teeth upon me as I saw him get up on all four of his legs in a huff and bound quickly over to me. But… it never came… I instead felt him tug on the back-collar of my shirt. I tried to say something while being dragged backwards, but nothing came out, so I made futile attempts for him to stop. I received a stern scolding, somewhat muffled by my shirt. "If you're gonna act like a stubborn cub, then I'm gonna treat you like one." He dropped me. My eyes were still tightly shut when I felt something very soft and warm against my back and arms. I rested slightly against it, the warmth relieving most of my tension. I ran my hands through the soft substance, whatever it was; it was amazing. I heard Kovu's voice immediately to the right of me; I could almost smell his breath. "Heh heh, is that better," he continued to try to conceal his chuckle, but I could tell he was up to something, "are you enjoying yourself a little more?"

"Yeah," I said, relaxation finally reaching my voice, "what is this?" I opened my eyes to look at Kovu.

His sarcastic smirk was the biggest I've ever seen. "It's me." I froze on the spot. I was leaning against a lion, and I couldn't be more afraid.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I began to stand up. However, I was stopped short when Kovu's front leg went over my lap, keeping me from standing. "Where do you think you're going;" he smiled a playful grin towards me that relieved some of my tension, "Sit down, we need to talk." I sat back down, defeated, knowing that I couldn't get away from him if I wanted to. "Stephen, look at me," I did; he had that concerned look again "Why are you so afraid of me, I thought we were way past that; is it because there's nothing between us, nothing to keep me from you?" He stared me straight in the eyes, right down to my soul. "It's not me who you're afraid of; not me personally, but because of what I am that frightens you so, isn't it?" I nodded slowly; he had hit the nail right on the head. His concerned look was plastered on his face "Why, why are you afraid of lions?"

I wrung my hands nervously, again, as I answered. I don't know why I had such a hard time talking to him. Even though I was so new to whole "talking to animals," thing I had talked to the cheetahs, just as I would talk to everyone else. With Kovu, though, something was different, and the funny thing was that he was right, I was afraid of his species not him, and I was afraid of being too close. Instincts are instincts and if I wasn't careful, I could enact those primal rages with a single mistake. I chose my words carefully, "Whenever I heard anything about lions, the only thing I heard about them was that they were man-eaters, and didn't think twice about attacking." I looked up at Kovu; his face looked like he was going to be sick.

"That's terrible; you make it sound like we're just mindless, killing-beings; like we do it for fun, or something. As far my pride is concerned we've never encountered man, until just recently as you might've guessed. The present king of my pride only told me stories that his father told him." He continued; he looked hurt, that I made such a ridiculous conception of his species, " In the Pridelands, where I come from, humans are the stuff of legends; stories that mothers tell their cubs to get them to sleep. The way I understood it before was that your kind were the "bad-guys," so to speak, but now I understand completely where you're coming from." I saw tears start to well up in his eyes. At this point I didn't care about the dangers of this. I had deeply upset someone, who I had become friends with, and I didn't want it to end the same night it was established. I lunged from the spot I was sitting at and wrapped my arms around Kovu's gigantic mane and neck, as I did I hoped he took this as a gesture of endearment and not an attack at his throat.

"Don't," I started crying myself, " I don't want to see you cry again, I understand, how much my kind has hurt you only in these short few days, and I hate it. I never want to see it happen again, and as long as I'm here, nothing – no one will lay a hand to stop us from getting you back home, where you belong." I started sobbing like a child, soaking the lion's great mane with my tears. I felt one of Kovu's legs go over my shoulders pulling me closer in an embrace.

"My dear friend," he whispered "Don't cry, I forgive you, I know how big of a change this must be for you; it had been for me, and believe me I know how it feels to have your whole world flipped upside down." He let go of me so we could look each other in the eyes, again, "We are both caught between two very different worlds, we have a history that spans four generations back," he chuckled, and took hold of a few strands of my hair in his paw toes, "Hell, we even have the same color mane." I laughed at this fact; I had just noticed it, as well. "A wise king, the present king of the Pridelands, said 'We are one,' when he told me this, I only thought of the relationship between me and my mate; two halves of a whole, as it was with the first lions." He smiled and I smiled along with him, "Now I see, that he spoke of more than just love between two lions, he was speaking of the connections we share through any sort of species boundary, as two who come together through a shared purpose, as a part of their destiny." He put his paw out and I grasped it with my hand. We fully understood each other, and now we could get down to what needed to be done.

I started to say something when I heard a voice coming from the cage next to Kovu's "Ahem, I hate to break up the bromance that seems to be blossoming, but I don't believe we've been introduced; my name is Yuddhaya."

(A/N): Whoo! That was looooooooong! Remember to r&r, please. Special thanks to Simbafan, again. A quick head's up, chapter 8 will not be ready for a long while, since we are getting up to the climax! But, do not worry; I am not done, not by long shot!

'til then,

~ The Puppet Master ~ SinxhetXXI

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